Whistle



Oct. 1'8, 1938. v F FORTUNA 291313,44()

WHISTLE Filed May 13, 1957 INVENTOR Yuugi Foruml, Q-Mv,

ATT RNEYS Patented Oct. 18, 19.38

UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE one-third to Guy Di Ruscio and one-third toDomenica Guarino, both of Niagarav Falls, N. Y. Application May 13,1937, Serial No. 142,445

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a whistle or mechanical toy by which variousmusical notes and sounds may be produced.

Whistles of this type have heretofore been proposed but they haveutilized a rubber band for the sound producing reed. The rubber wouldsoon deteriorate and shorten the life of the toy. Fur-y thermore, thecharacter of the reed has made it difficult to properly mount and adjustthe same for obtaining the desired shrillness and tonal quality of thenote or notes.

The present invention has for its object to provide a musical instrumentof this nature which is bothdurable and economical in construction.Further, the invention has for its aim to provide a whistle in which thereed may be readily adjusted to permit of its being cleaned as well asto control the pitch of the note produced.

The invention also has for its object certain improved features ofconstruction which facilitate the manufacture of the whistle, as willmore readily appear in the following description, reference being madeto the accompanying drawing wherein Fig. 1 is a front elevation of awhistle constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an edge View of the same;

Fig. 3 is a detailed sectional view showing the pivotal mounting of thereed;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manual flexing of thereed; and

Fig. 5 depicts a different manner of securing the reed in position.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the body of the whistle ortoy is preferably formed of sheet material, such as Celluloid or metal,folded or bent upon itself to provide a chamber 2 between the side walls3 and 4. At the line of fold the body is provided with an opening 5 toconstitute an outlet for the chamber so that when the toy is placed withits mouth opening, as provided by the opposite free edges of the foldedsheet, between the players lips and blown, the breath may nd readyescape through such outlet.

Within the chamber 2 is adjustably disposed a reed 6 which is preferablyformed of Celluloid, a resinous product, or some other self-sustainingthough flexible material unaffected by the moisture of the breath. Thereed is depicted as being pivoted between the side walls of the bodysomewhat after the fashion of the blade of a pen knife and is designedto be swung outwardly clear of the side walls, as illustrated at A inFig. 1, so that it may be wiped clean of any foreign matter for thebetter functioning of the reed. The pivotal mounting of the reed may beof permanent form, as by passing the rivet l through the opening 8 ofthe. reed and registering openings in the side walls, or the reed` maybe detachably mounted in a very economical manner by pressing a boss orprojection 9 from one side `wall 4 (Fig. 5) through the reed opening 8and into a recess l0 in the opposing side wall 3', the sharp edges orburs on the pivot forming projection 9 being concealed and embeddedwithin the recess, as illustrated in Fig. 5. This provides a simple wayof mounting the reed so that the whistle will be composed of a minimumnumber of parts for greater economy in manufacture.

In either form of mounting, the reed is adjustable about its pivot, notonly for exposing the reed for cleaning but also for adjustment tovarious positions within the chamber 2, as indicated at Bin Fig. 1, toenable changes in the pitch of the note produced. To facilitate the reedadjustment within the chamber, the free end of the reed is extendedbeyond the end of the body to provide a tip I l which is engageable by afinger of the hand so that the user may readily manipulate and adjustthe reed about its pivot to secure the desired tone or variationthereof.

Furthermore, since the reed is of a flexible though self-sustainingcharacter, it may be flexed or buckled laterally back and forth acrossthe chamber in the line of air flow, by pressing sid-ewise on theprojecting tip Il to cause the adjacent portion of the reed to fulcrumon the end of the body for guiding the buckle. This enables the user tobreak or interrupt the note intermittently as the reed flexes againstthe side walls of the chamber. Consequently, the reed is adjustable inthe plane of air ow from the mouth opening and is also manually flexibletransversely of the air stream.

The whistle is of simple construction and of a minimum number of parts.It is durable in formation and where the pivoting projection is struckout of a side wall, as in Fig. 5, the reed may be readily replaced byspringing apart the spaced sides, disengaging the reed from its pivotalmounting, substituting another reed and restoring the sides to theirproper position. For

this purpose the material from which the body I is formed may have asufficient amount of inherent resiliency. The defining walls 3 and 4 ofthe chamber 2 may be spaced to the desired extent by offsetting the sameadjacent the pivoted end of the reed, as indicated at I2. The side wallsfrictionally engage the reed about the pivot to aid in holding the reedin a set position. .y t ,l

It will be understood :further-,thatthedevice sho'vvn and described ifsmerelyillu'strative of the .inventive principles involve'd, which maybeaplplied to other physical embodiments Without departing from the scopeand spirit of the invention claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A whistle comprising a body having a chamber formed With a transverseair passage leading from a mouth opening, the chamber being open at theside opposite from the mouth opening, and a reed of a self-sustainingmaterial pivotally mounted in the chamber for movement into and out ofthe chamber through the open side thereof., said reed having an endportion extended beyond the body to provide an operating tip by Which itmay be adjusted in the line of air flow.

2. A Whistle comprising a body formed of sheet material folded uponitself to define a chamber With a transverse air passage leading from amouth opening, the mouth opening being formed in the folded portion ofthe body and the free edges of the sheet being spaced apart, and avibratory reed Within the chamber for adjustment in the plane of airflow and also for movement from Within the chamber between the freeedges, the reed extending at its free end through the body to provide atip by which the reed may be adjusted about itsV pivotal mounting.

3. A Whistle comprising a body having a chamber With a transverse airpassage leading from a mouth opening, a reed of self-sustaining materialmounted at one end Within the chamber and adapted to be flexed back andforth across theY pivotally mounted at one endV chamber vandtransversely of the air flow from the mouth opening, said reed havingits free end extended beyond the body to provide arr operating tip bywhich the reed may be moved laterally against the body as a means offulcrum to effect a flexing of the reed in thechamber.

4. A whistle comprising a body having a chamber With a transverse airpassage, a reed of selfsustaining material pivotally mounted in thechamber in the plane of air flow, said reed having its free end extendedbeyond the body to provide an operating tip by which it may be adjustedin the line of air flow and flexed transversely thereof.

5. A Whistle comprising sides defining a chamber, the body being formedwith openings to permit flow of an air stream through the chambertransversely of. the body, a reed having an opening at one end, one ofthe side Walls having a Ypivot struck therefrom through the opening ofthe reed and into a recess formed in the opposing side Wall, the sideWalls being joined for relative movement enabling them to be separatedfor the mounting and demounting of the reed, the opposite end of thereed being extended beyond the body to provide an operating tip by whichthe reed may be adjusted.

6, A Whistle comprising a body having an air slot therethrough, aself-sustaining reed frictionally pivoted at one end Vin the slot foradjustment toward and from the mouth of the slot and having a partprojecting beyond the body for engagement by the hand to adjust it'toset positions of adjustment.

a body having spaced FRANK FORTUNA.

